ABA officials insist they are working on proposals which they believe will prove acceptable to Amir Khan.

They say Khan's group informally accepted a four-year package worth '280,000 which they made at a meeting a fortnight ago, believed to include a salaried post in sports development.

In a statement, ABA chairman Jim Smart insisted his body had made an unprecedented offer for Khan to remain amateur until the 2008 Olympics.

'This offer was made in London on the 8th September, at a formal meeting attended by Amir, his family and advisers plus Sport England and ABA England,' said Smart.

Offer

'The offer was informally accepted by Amir and his advisers and a further meeting was set up to be held in Liverpool on Friday, 24th September, 2004 to finalise the details of the offer, this meeting will take place as scheduled on Friday.

'ABAE Ltd, following extensive negotiations with Sport England, put together a '280,000 deal for Amir Khan to remain within the amateur ranks.

'This four-year programme may also be added to and developed with other funding streams above this provisional offer, i.e. this offer does not take into account probable media, promotion and sponsorship opportunities.

'Part of this funding initiative is an ABAE Ltd commitment to pay '10,000 per annum towards Amir's education. This provision has never been made in British Amateur sport.'

The ABA's development officer Paul King added: 'We are and have all along been due to meet Amir Khan's team on Friday in Liverpool to discuss our offer.'

Khan's manager Asif Vali did confirm that Khan had been favourable to an initial idea which he believed had been mooted by the ABA, and insisted there was no question of holding the governing body to ransom.

But he said it was imperative for the ABA to finalise their offer so the Khan team did not lose projected sponsorship deals they have been negotiating since their return from Athens.

'We have a lot of deals on the table and we have been working with a lot of companies,' Vali added.

'Most of these deals depend upon whether Amir stays amateur or turn professional, so we need to finalise everything or risk losing some of those arrangements.'

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